Neuroscience research has come a hell of a long way since the days of scalpels and electrodes. While some research teams are exploring the molecular machinery that churns at the hearts of nerve cells, others are working to assemble wiring diagrams for whole regions of the human brain. Just as biological science never looked the [...]
Posts Tagged ‘neurons’
Three Big Doubts About Brain-Mapping Efforts
April 14th, 2013 
The Connectome 
Posted in Feature Stories, Featured 
Tags: connectomics, neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, neurons, neurophysiology, synapses, technology 
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The Top 5 Neuroscience Breakthroughs of 2012
December 21st, 2012 The Connectome More than any year before, 2012 was the year neuroscience exploded into pop culture. From mind-controlled robot hands to cyborg animals to TV specials to triumphant books, brain breakthroughs were tearing up the airwaves and the internets. From all the thrilling neurological adventures we covered over the past year, we’ve collected five stories we want [...]
Posted in Feature Stories, Featured Tags: consciousness, neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, neurons, neurophysiology, technology, technosophy 10 Comments »
Podcast 4 – Our Interview With Scott Emmons
September 15th, 2012 The Connectome On episode 4 of the Connectome podcast, Ben chats with Scott W. Emmons, Ph.D., a professor of neuroscience and genetics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Emmons talks with us about his cutting-edge connectomics research, which may help us understand how neural circuits “decide” on a particular behavior. Click here to subscribe in [...]
Posted in Featured, Podcasts Tags: biology, connectomics, functional networks, neuroanatomy, neurons, senses, technology No Comments »
The Listeners from Below
August 15th, 2012 The Connectome Deep within your brain, they are listening. In still silence, they await signals from afar – dim echoes of distant calls. And when they hear what they’ve been waiting for… they will awaken. They are known as neural stem cells – and not only are they real; researchers have just made some major discoveries about [...]
Posted in Brain News, Featured Tags: biochemistry, biology, neurochemistry, neurons, neurophysiology No Comments »
Memories on a Microchip
July 25th, 2012 The Connectome Are your memories real? How do you know? These sound like questions from a mind-bending thriller – Total Recall, say; or Inception. But this isn’t science fiction. Researchers around the world are implanting memories, turning them on and off – and, according to one team, storing them on microchips. Wow. Okay. Let’s back up here. [...]
Posted in Feature Stories, Featured Tags: learning, memory, neurons, technology, technosophy 3 Comments »
Aliens in the Lab
June 19th, 2012 The Connectome Researchers are creating new lifeforms that are chemically unrelated to any other life on earth. In fact, for the first time ever, scientists in Japan have built an artificial synapse, from the molecules up. What?! How can this be? Read on, intrepid voyager of the unknown, and discover for yourself. The basic idea is that [...]
Posted in Brain News, Featured Tags: biochemistry, biology, learning, neurochemistry, neurons, technology No Comments »
Skin Into Brain II
June 9th, 2012 The Connectome For the first time in history, scientists have reprogrammed a whole batch of skin cells into a self-organizing, functioning network of brain cells, says a new study. That’s right, y’all – Dr. Sheng Ding at UCSF is blowin’ up the stem cell research game once again – except this time, instead of just reprogramming individual [...]
Posted in Brain News, Featured Tags: biology, genetics, neurons, structural networks, technology 1 Comment »
The Depths of Decisions
May 5th, 2012 The Connectome Our brains – and the brains of other animals – actually run through superfast replays of past experiences as we make decisions, says a new study. This process isn’t one we usually have conscious access to – but without it, we might not be able to learn from the past at all. Memory seems pretty [...]
Posted in Brain News, Featured Tags: consciousness, learning, memory, neuroanatomy, neurons, neurophysiology, senses No Comments »
The Brain Grid
March 30th, 2012 The Connectome Connections in the brain aren’t all tangled up – they’re organized into a grid of tightly-knit bundles, says a new study. By applying mathematical analysis to the latest imaging technology, scientists have discovered that connective pathways are knit into a three-dimensional geometric pattern. When scientists first set out to map the connections in a brain, [...]
Posted in Brain News, Featured Tags: biology, connectomics, consciousness, functional networks, neuroanatomy, neurons, structural networks, technology 1 Comment »
Memory Control
March 23rd, 2012 The Connectome Scientists can now turn a particular memory “on” and “off” by controlling the specific neurons that help encode it, a new study reports. Thanks to cutting-edge technology that allows researchers to control individual brain cells, a team has found a way to activate and deactivate memories of certain environments in mouse brains. The past few [...]
Posted in Brain News, Featured Tags: biology, learning, memory, neuroanatomy, neurons, neurophysiology, senses, technology 2 Comments »
